Montreal celebrates the holidays in French. The language, the culinary tradition, and the architectural setting all distinguish the city's season from anywhere else in North America, with the cobblestone streets of Vieux-Montréal and the dome of Notre-Dame Basilica giving the season a European visual register.

• Marché de Noël in Vieux-Montréal: The Old Port and surrounding cobblestone streets host one of North America's most authentic European-style Christmas markets, including the Grande Roue ferris wheel decked for the season.
• Luminothérapie: The annual winter light-art installation in the Quartier des Spectacles is a uniquely Montreal contribution to public-space holiday programming.
• Quebec Holiday Table: The Réveillon Christmas Eve feast centers on tourtière (the spiced pork meat pie), with smoked meat from Schwartz's and Lester's, sugar pie, and Quebec craft cider rounding out a distinctly French-Canadian winter food tradition.
• Old Montreal at Christmas: The cobblestone streets, French colonial architecture, and the Notre-Dame Basilica concerts give the Old Port the strongest old-world Christmas atmosphere in North America.